How Does the Social Security Administration Determine If Someone Is Disabled?
By: Aaron Rifkind | Posted: 21st October 2009
Webster's definition of disabled is someone who is incapacitated by either illness or injury. Due to the vagueness of Webster's definition of disabled and others like it, most people applying for Social Security disability benefits believe that they have a clear disablement that entitles them to just compensation. However, contrary to common belief, the Social Security Administration (SSA) determines whether someone is disabled based on a five step, sequential Social Security disability evaluation process.
The five step Social Security disability evaluation process is what your attorney or claimants representative needs to argue in order to win your disability benefits claim. The five step process is sequential and is argued the same for every disability claim and is as follows:
Step One: Are you working and are you performing Substantial Gainful Activity?
If your earnings average more than $980.00 per month gross, then the SSA will consider you as working at a Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level and will not find you to be disabled. $980.00 per month is evaluated based on actual wages. Even if you have a disabling condition, surpassing the SGA level will most likely disqualify you and your disability claim.
Step Two: Is your condition severe?
The SSA will consider your impairment or combination of impairments severe if it interferes with basic work related activity. Your condition must be severe enough to last for at least a twelve month period.
Step Three: Does your condition meet or exceed a listed impairment?
The SSA issues the "Blue Book," which consists of a list of impairments that specifically details the severity that an impairment needs to meet to be considered disabling. The list is both specific and detailed, making it very difficult for a claimant to meet. If your impairment does not meet the listing, the SSA will then determine whether your condition is equal to the severity of one of the listed impairments. On the other hand, if you meet the required listing, you will satisfy the third step of the sequential process. The Blue Book can be found on the Administration's website at www.ssa.gov.
Step Four: Can you do previous work?
SSA may determine that your condition is severe, but nonetheless determine that it does not meet or equal a required listing. If that is the case, SSA will decide whether your impairment prevents you from being able to perform your past work. Social Security wants to know what is your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC). Your RFC is the most work that you can do despite all of your limitations. In general, if you can perform some of your past SGA work from the last fifteen years, then you will not be adjudicated as disabled.
Step Five: What work can you do?
Even if you are unable to perform any of the jobs you have had in the previous fifteen years, Social Security can still deny your disability claim if the Administration can prove that there is a significant number of jobs in the local or national economy that you can perform. In this final step, Social Security will consider your age, education, and past work experience. The rules that apply to this step change depending on how old you are. In general, if you are over 50 years old the rules become easier but you would still have to eliminate most of the jobs in the economy to win your disability claim.
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Aaron Rifkind
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Tags: earnings, wages, webster, severity, social security, belief, claimant, security disability benefits, social security disability benefits, social security disability, social security administration, vagueness, ssa, claimants, disability claim, substantial gainful activity, blue book